Good morning:
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​Reminder: The next live show will be Monday, August 18th at 7 pm ET. I'll be joined by Bill Bernstein, author of The Four Pillars of Investing. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel where the show is broadcast here.

3 Things

1. Tax Deductions: Above-the-Line, Itemized, and Neither (The Finance Buff)

2. Smart Roth, Dumb Roth (VettaFi) (Note: I have a number of questions about this article that I'll ask Bill Bernstein on the 18th)

3. The seven rules of stock market bubbles (OptimistiCallie)

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My Videos & Articles

• ​Should You Do A Mega Roth Conversion? (FQF)
• There have been some great discussions in the DIYRetirement Subreddit, including about Roth conversions, Open Social Security, and simplifying a portfolio.

ICYMI

• World record lightning bolt stretched 515 miles, crossed three states (NBC)
• In which ways is the BLS biased? (Tyler Cowen)​
• The Have Lots & the Have Nots (Spyglass)
• The Cost of Financing U.S. Government Debt (Econofact)
• Whatever Happened to Serial Killers? (Derek Thompson)
• On Engineered Wonder (Cal Newport)
• The Menu (Seth Godin)
• The Risks of Passive Investing Dominance (Alpha Architect)
• Celebrating 10 Years of Portfolio Charts (Portfolio Charts)
• What It Takes to Crew the Hardest Race on Earth (Outside)
• Second opinions in the age of ChatGPT (Freethink)
• The Audience Effect: Why We Change When Others Are Watching (Ness Labs)
• Claude for Financial Services (Anthropic)​

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What I'm Reading, Listening To, Watching, and Thinking About

• I bought and am reading two books by Jim Otar, who created i-ORP, a financial planning tool that is no longer available: UNVEILING THE RETIREMENT MYTH: Advanced Retirement Planning based on Market History (2020) and Advanced Retirement Income Planning (2024).
• My wife and I started watching Untamed on Netflix. Excellent.

Resource

• New Promo Code: Monarch Money 50% off the First Year Discount Code: ROB50​
• You can see a list of all of my Youtube videos here.
• You can see a list of the budgeting, investing and retirement planning tools I use here.
• ProjectionLab 10% Discount Code RBERGER-10​
• You can view past issues of the newsletter here.
• NEW: DIYRetirement Subreddit​

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Best,
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Rob Berger
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P.S. Feel free to hit reply and send me a message. I read every email.